Mechanics of Materials Laboratory

Torsion Test

David Clark
Group C:
David Clark
Jacob Parton
Zachary Tyler
Andrew Smith

10/27/2006

Abstract
The following experiment outlines the proper procedure for determining the shear
modulus for a material. During this exercise, aluminum and brass were both used as
samples to demonstrate how materials behave during testing conditions. By measuring
the applied torque with respect to the angle of twist, the shear modulus, shear stress at the
limit of proportionality, and failure conditions can be found. Ultimately, the shear
modulus for Aluminum and brass was determined to be 3078 and 3708 ksi respectively.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction & Background............................................................4
2. Equipment and Procedure............................................................6
2.1. Equipment..............................................................................6
2.2. Experiment Setup...................................................................7
2.3. Procedure...............................................................................7
3. Data, Analysis & Calculations.......................................................8
4. Results........................................................................................15
5. Conclusions.................................................................................15
6. References..................................................................................15
7. Raw Notes...................................................................................16

1. Introduction & Background

The following experiment is designed to determine the modulus of rigidity.
Utilizing test specimens with a known geometry, specimens can be twisted with the
values for torque simultaneously measured. To perform this task, a torsion testing
machine can be used. The torsion apparatus used in this exercise accepts standard 0.2525
inch diameter cylindrical specimens with hexagonal ends. With the sample secured and
clamped within the machine, the specimen can be twisted by applying a rotational torque
to one end, while the opposing end is kept straight by attaching it to the center of an arm
structure. This arm is held horizontal throughout the procedure by a torque gage
specifically calibrated to read torque for this configuration.
The ultimate goal, the determination of the modulus of rigidity, G, can be
expressed as
G=

T L
J

Equation 1
where T is the torque applied, L is the length of the specimen, is the angle of twist in
radians, J is the polar moment of inertia (see below).
1
1
J = R4 = d 4
2
32
Equation 2
R and d is the radius and diameter of the cross-sectional test area respectively. Equation 2
is only valid for solid circular regions.
T/ is the slope of the linear portion of the curve when torque is plotted against
the angle of twist. A typical curve is drawn in Figure 1.

Figure 1
Another method of determining G comes from Hooke's law, where

=G

or G =

Equation 3
The value of shear stress is easily expressed by

Tr
J

Equation 4
Replacing J in Equation 4 with Equation 2, as well as converting the radial
dimension to the diameter, shear stress can be expressed as
d
T
Tr
16 T
=
= 24 =
= K1 T
J
d
d3
32
Equation 5
where K1 is given by
K1 =

16
d3

Equation 6
Shear stress produced a shear strain expressed as

r
L

Equation 7
Converting the radial dimension to a diameter, the expression for shear strain
becomes
d

r 2
d
=
=
=
= K 2
L
L
2L
Equation 8
where K2 is expressed as
K2 =

d
2L

Equation 9
The apparatus used within this experiment measures the angle of twist in degrees
rather than radians, therefore Equations 8 and 9 can be determined to be

= K2
2 L 180
Equation 10
d

K2 =
2 L 180
Equation 11

2. Equipment and Procedure

2.1.Equipment
1. Torsion Testing Machine
2. Specimens: In this experiment, aluminum and brass specimens were used.
6

3. Calipers: Calipers should be used to measure the diameter and length of

the test specimen.

2.2.Experiment Setup
Measure and record the length and diameter of specimen, as estimated in Figure
1.

Figure 2

The specimen should be secured in the torsion testing machine. The control used
to generate twisting can be used to balance the arm and torque gage. When the apparatus
is set to read zero degrees twist and torque, the angle of twist can be induced.

2.3.Procedure
Twist is then induced in quarter degree increments. After each application, the
arm should be balanced and the resulting torque recorded.
When 8 degrees of twist has been applied, the twist should be increased in 2
degree increments. Again, the arm should be balanced after each step. Record the torque
and record if any hysteresis effects are experienced.
After 30 degrees of twist has been applied, the twist should be increased first to a
total twist of 90 degrees. Record the torque and note any hysteresis effects. Next,
increment the angle of twist in 90 degree increments until the specimen breaks. After

every increment, record the torque. Usually this process needs to be done fairly quickly to
ensure minimal error due to relaxation in the specimen.

3. Data, Analysis & Calculations

Table 1 catalogs angle and torque applied at each increment.
Angle

0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
3.25
3.50
3.75
4.00
4.25
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
6.50
6.75
7.00
7.25
7.50
7.75
8.00

Torque (lbf-in)
Aluminum
Brass
1
2
1
5
2
8
3
11
5
13
7.5
16
10
18
11
21
13.5
23
15.5
26
17
27.5
19
30
20
32.5
22.5
35
24
37
26
39
28
41
30.5
43.5
32
46
34
48
36
50
37.5
52
38.5
54
40.5
56
42
58.5
44.5
60
46
62
48
64
50
66
51
68
53
70
55
72

Angle

10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
90
180
270
360
450
540
630
720
810
900
990
1080
1170
1260
1350
1440
1530
1620
1710
1800
1890

Table 1

Torque (lbf-in)
Aluminum
Brass
60
79
67.5
85
75
90
82
95
88
99
93
103
98
106
102
108
105
110
107
114
109
115
138
133
155
138
170
141
180
145
190
147
195
149
200
150
Break
154
156
158
160
162
163
165
166
167
166
170
171
171
Break

Table 2 lists measured and calculated dimensional data. K1 and K'2 are determined
using Equation 6 and 11.
Specimen Dimensions
Aluminum
Brass
Length
3.000
3.000
Diameter
0.2540
0.2545
K1
310.791
308.963
K'2
0.0007
0.0007

Table 2
Table 3 contains the angle and torque for Aluminum as previously displayed in
Table 1. The shear stress and strain are calculated using Equation 5 and 10. Table 4
contains the same information for Brass.
As a sample, K1, K'2, the shear stress, and the shear strain are calculated in
Equation 12 through 15.
K1 =

16
16
=
= 310.791 in 3
3
0.254
d
Equation 12

d
0.254

K2 =
=
= 0.0007
2 L 180 2 ( 3) 180
Equation 13

= K 1 T = 310.791 (1) = 311 psi

Equation 14

= K 2 = 0.0007 ( 0.25) = 185

Equation 15

Angle
Torque
(degrees) (lbf-in)
0
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
3.25
3.50
3.75
4.00
4.25
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25

0
1
1
2
3
5
7.5
10
11
13.5
15.5
17
19
20
22.5
24
26
28
30.5
32
34
36
37.5
38.5
40.5
42

Shear
Stress
(psi)
0
311
311
622
932
1554
2331
3108
3419
4196
4817
5283
5905
6216
6993
7459
8081
8702
9479
9945
10567
11188
11655
11965
12587
13053

Aluminum
Shear
Angle
Torque
Strain
(degrees) (lbf-in)
()
0
6.50
44.5
185
6.75
46
369
7.00
48
554
7.25
50
739
7.50
51
924
7.75
53
1108
8.00
55
1293
10
60
1478
12
67.5
1662
14
75
1847
16
82
2032
18
88
2217
20
93
2401
22
98
2586
24
102
2771
26
105
2955
28
107
3140
30
109
3325
90
138
3510
180
155
3694
270
170
3879
360
180
4064
450
190
4248
540
195
4433
630
200
4618

Table 3

10

Shear
Stress
(psi)
13830
14296
14918
15540
15850
16472
17094
18647
20978
23309
25485
27350
28904
30458
31701
32633
33255
33876
42889
48173
52835
55942
59050
60604
62158

Shear
Strain
()
4803
4987
5172
5357
5541
5726
5911
7389
8866
10344
11822
13299
14777
16255
17733
19210
20688
22166
66497
132994
199491
265988
332485
398982
465479

Angle
(degrees)
0
0.25
0.50
0.75
1.00
1.25
1.50
1.75
2.00
2.25
2.50
2.75
3.00
3.25
3.50
3.75
4.00
4.25
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
6.50
6.75
7.00
7.25
7.50
7.75
8.00

Torque
(lbf-in)
0
2
5
8
11
13
16
18
21
23
26
27.5
30
32.5
35
37
39
41
43.5
46
48
50
52
54
56
58.5
60
62
64
66
68
70
72

Shear
Stress
(psi)
0
618
1545
2472
3399
4017
4943
5561
6488
7106
8033
8496
9269
10041
10814
11432
12050
12667
13440
14212
14830
15448
16066
16684
17302
18074
18538
19156
19774
20392
21009
21627
22245

Brass
Shear
Angle
Torque
Strain
(degrees) (lbf-in)
()
0
10
79
185
12
85
370
14
90
555
16
95
740
18
99
925
20
103
1110
22
106
1296
24
108
1481
26
110
1666
28
114
1851
30
115
2036
90
133
2221
180
138
2406
270
141
2591
360
145
2776
450
147
2961
540
149
3146
630
150
3331
720
154
3516
810
156
3702
900
158
3887
990
160
4072
1080
162
4257
1170
163
4442
1260
165
4627
1350
166
4812
1440
167
4997
1530
166
5182
1620
170
5367
1710
171
5552
1800
171
5737
5922

Table 4

11

Shear
Stress
(psi)
24408
26262
27807
29352
30587
31823
32750
33368
33986
35222
35531
41092
42637
43564
44800
45418
46036
46344
47580
48198
48816
49434
50052
50361
50979
51288
51597
51288
52524
52833
52833

Shear
Strain
()
7403
8884
10364
11845
13326
14806
16287
17767
19248
20729
22209
66628
133256
199884
266512
333140
399768
466396
533024
599651
666279
732907
799535
866163
932791
999419
1066047
1132675
1199303
1265931
1332559

Stress vs Strain
70000

60000

Stress (psi)

50000

40000

30000
Aluminum
Brass
20000

10000

0
0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

350000

400000

Strain (ue)

Figure 3
As shown in Figure 4, the slope of the linear portion of the stress versus strain
curve is approximately 3072 ksi.
Linear Stress vs Strain (Aluminum)
14000

y = 3.0715x - 947.2
12000

10000

Stress (psi)

8000

6000

4000

2000

0
0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

-2000
Strain (ue)

Figure 4

12

3000

3500

4000

4500

5000

Linear Stress vs Strain - Brass

25000

y = 3.7077x + 794.52

Stress (psi)

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

Strain (ue)

Figure 5
As shown in Figure 5, the slope of the stress versus strain curve for brass is 3708
ksi.
The limit of proportionality is determined by offsetting a line 0.2% right of the
linear stress versus strain plot, and finding where it crosses the original stress-strain
curve. For Aluminum, the limit of proportionality is graphically determined to be
approximately 22000 psi. Brass exhibited a higher limit of proportionality with a value of
approximately 26500 psi.

13

Limit of Proportionality - Aluminum

30000

25000

Stress (psi)

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

12000

13000

14000

12000

13000

14000

15000

Strain (ue)

Figure 6
Limit of Proportionality - Brass
40000

35000

Stress (psi)

30000

25000

20000

15000

10000
5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000
Strain (ue)

14

11000

4. Results
The results found within this experiment were somewhat innaccurate. The shear
modulus for Aluminum was determined to be 3072 ksi, which contains nearly 22% error
when compared against the standard 3920 ksi. The experiment using Brass contained
37% error, with 3708 ksi and 5080 ksi as the experimental and accepted values
respectively.
Sources for error occur within the testing apparatus. As noted in the experiment,
even with both degree indicators tightened, the 6 degree wheel and the 360 degree wheel
did not agree on angular measurement. For example, when 30 degrees had been achieved
on the 6 degree wheel, the 360 degree wheel did not read 30 degrees as well.

5. Conclusions
The results in this particular experiment may or may not be acceptable for
practical use. If an application requires a high degree of accuracy of the shear modulus or
shear behavior, more thorough testing must be done.
As an improvement to the experiment, the degree wheels should be further
analyzed to ensure that both agree accurately to the angular behavior of the specimen.

6. References
Gilbert, J. A and C. L. Carmen. "Chapter 4 Column Buckling Test." MAE/CE 370
Mechanics of Materials Laboratory Manual. June 2000.
"Copper, UNS C27000 (Yellow brass), OSO70 Temper flat products" MatWeb. Nov 1,
2006.
<http://www.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=MCUABQ01>
"Aluminum 2024-T6" MatWeb. Nov 1, 2006.
<http://www.matweb.com/search/SpecificMaterial.asp?bassnum=MA2024T6>

15

7. Raw Notes

Figure 7

16

Figure 8

17

Figure 9

18